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Historic trans bill introduced in Canada

In my freelance work for Yahoo Canada News I’ve been honoured to cover issues affecting the LGBTQ community in Canada. I always try to remember that in my reporting I’m representing a community that I am not a part of, one that has often been done wrong by in reporting. I think these stories deserve coverage and I aim to do it well.

The most recent of those stories is one I wrote yesterday, on the federal government’s bill to introduce protections for trans and non-binary Canadians. I also recently wrote about the work of trans activists in expanding the gender and/or sex options on the next census, and in educating Canadians on how they can register their preferences for the 2016 survey.

Earlier, I wrote about the closure of a trans health clinic at CAMH in Toronto and complaints from the trans community about the methods that clinic used over the years. And early in my time writing for Yahoo, I wrote a feature on the significant barriers to health-care access faced by trans and non-binary people across Canada. What I found in reporting that piece highlights one aspect of why the bill introduced in the House of Commons today is so important.